Micheline Messersmith, a 68-year-old White female, had just celebrated her birthday a week before her life was brought to a violent and mysterious end. On Monday, November 12, 2018, she was found deceased inside her home at 3024 W. Patterson Street in the Egypt Lake-Leto area of Hillsborough County, Florida. The discovery prompted a 911 call to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office at 3:20 in the afternoon, bringing deputies to the quiet residential neighborhood located just west of ZooTampa at Lowry Park.
Upon arrival, deputies found Ms. Messersmith and immediately secured the scene. The circumstances of her death were not immediately clear, but investigators quickly determined they were dealing with a homicide. Detectives from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office Homicide Section were called in and spent that night and the following days meticulously processing the scene for evidence.
They canvassed the Lake Egypt Estates neighborhood, going door-to-door to speak with residents, hoping to find anyone who saw or heard something unusual.
In the initial days of the investigation, authorities publicly identified the victim as Micheline G. Messersmith and confirmed her death was being investigated as a murder. They urged residents in the area to review any security camera footage they might have from around the time of the incident, looking for anything that seemed out of place. Despite these efforts, little information was released to the public about the specifics of the crime. Authorities have not disclosed the cause of death or the condition in which Ms. Messersmith was found.
The investigation into who killed Micheline Messersmith and why has continued for years without a resolution. No suspects or persons of interest have ever been publicly named, and no motive has been shared by law enforcement. The case has grown cold, leaving a painful void for those who knew her and a lingering sense of unease in the community where she lived. The lack of public information about her life—her family, her career, her passions—has made her death an even more solitary tragedy, defined only by its unresolved nature.
The Egypt Lake-Leto area is a dense suburban community, a place of single-family homes and apartment complexes where residents live their daily lives, largely untroubled by violent crime. The murder in November 2018 was a jarring event that shattered the neighborhood's sense of security. Without answers, the case remains a dark chapter for the community and a constant, quiet mission for the detectives tasked with solving it.
As of November 2026, the murder of Micheline Messersmith remains an open and unsolved case, listed under case number 2018-787239 with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Her case is one of many featured on the department's list of unsolved homicides, a silent testament to a life cut short and a plea for justice that has yet to be answered. Detectives continue to seek the one piece of information that could break the case open. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Section at (813) 247-8660 or to remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers of Tampa Bay.
